Matching Items (9)
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- All Subjects: Social Psychology
- Genre: Masters Thesis
- Creators: Kenrick, Douglas T.
- Member of: ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Description
The current research seeks to examine whether individuals display or downplay intelligence in various mating contexts. I hypothesized that both men and women should display fluid intelligence when attempting to attract a potential long-term partner, and that only men should display fluid intelligence when attempting to attract a potential short-term partner. Contrary to predictions, I find that men perform worse at a fluid intelligence test when motivated to attract a long-term partner. With respect to crystallized intelligence, I predicted that both men and women should display crystallized intelligence when attempting to attract a potential long-term partner, but women should downplay crystallized intelligence when attempting to attract a potential short-term partner. However, there were no effects of mating contexts on displays of crystallized intelligence.
ContributorsSng, Wei Sheng Oliver (Author) / Neuberg, Steven L. (Thesis advisor) / Kenrick, Douglas T. (Committee member) / Shiota, Michelle (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This study investigates how well prominent behavioral theories from social psychology explain green purchasing behavior (GPB). I assess three prominent theories in terms of their suitability for GPB research, their attractiveness to GPB empiricists, and the strength of their empirical evidence when applied to GPB. First, a qualitative assessment of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Norm Activation Theory (NAT), and Value-Belief-Norm Theory (VBN) is conducted to evaluate a) how well the phenomenon and concepts in each theory match the characteristics of pro-environmental behavior and b) how well the assumptions made in each theory match common assumptions made in purchasing theory. Second, a quantitative assessment of these three theories is conducted in which r2 values and methodological parameters (e.g., sample size) are collected from a sample of 21 empirical studies on GPB to evaluate the accuracy and generalize-ability of empirical evidence. In the qualitative assessment, the results show each theory has its advantages and disadvantages. The results also provide a theoretically-grounded roadmap for modifying each theory to be more suitable for GPB research. In the quantitative assessment, the TPB outperforms the other two theories in every aspect taken into consideration. It proves to 1) create the most accurate models 2) be supported by the most generalize-able empirical evidence and 3) be the most attractive theory to empiricists. Although the TPB establishes itself as the best foundational theory for an empiricist to start from, it's clear that a more comprehensive model is needed to achieve consistent results and improve our understanding of GPB. NAT and the Theory of Interpersonal Behavior (TIB) offer pathways to extend the TPB. The TIB seems particularly apt for this endeavor, while VBN does not appear to have much to offer. Overall, the TPB has already proven to hold a relatively high predictive value. But with the state of ecosystem services continuing to decline on a global scale, it's important for models of GPB to become more accurate and reliable. Better models have the capacity to help marketing professionals, product developers, and policy makers develop strategies for encouraging consumers to buy green products.
ContributorsRedd, Thomas Christopher (Author) / Dooley, Kevin (Thesis advisor) / Basile, George (Committee member) / Darnall, Nicole (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
In an affordance management approach, stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination are conceptualized as tools to manage the potential opportunities and threats afforded by others in highly interdependent social living. This approach suggests a distinction between two “kinds” of stereotypes. “Base” stereotypes are relatively factual, stable beliefs about the capacities and inclinations of groups and their members, whereas “affordance stereotypes” are beliefs about potential threats and opportunities posed by groups and their members. Two experiments test the hypothesized implications of this distinction: (1) People may hold identical base stereotypes about a target group but hold very different affordance stereotypes. (2) Affordance stereotypes, but not base stereotypes, are shaped by perceiver goals and felt vulnerabilities. (3) Prejudices and (4) discrimination are more heavily influenced by affordance stereotypes than by base stereotypes. I endeavored to manipulate participants’ felt vulnerabilities to measure the predicted corresponding shifts in affordance (but not base) stereotype endorsement, prejudices, and discriminatory inclinations toward a novel target group (Sidanians). In Study 1 (N = 600), the manipulation was unsuccessful. In Study 2 (N = 338), the manipulation had a partial effect, allowing for preliminary causal tests of the proposed model. In both studies, I predicted and found high endorsement of the base stereotypes that Sidanians try to share their values and actively participate in the community, with low variability. I also predicted and found more variation in affordance (vs. base) stereotype endorsement, which was systematically related to participants’ felt vulnerabilities in Study 2. Taken together, these findings support my hypothesized distinction between base stereotypes and affordance stereotypes. Finally, I modeled the proposed correlational relationships between felt vulnerabilities, base stereotypes, affordance stereotypes, prejudices, and discriminatory inclinations in the model. Although these relationships were predominantly significant in the predicted directions, overall fit of the model was poor. These studies further our critical understanding of the relationship between stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination. This has implications for how we devise interventions to reduce the deleterious effects of such processes on their targets, perhaps focusing on changing perceiver vulnerabilities and perceived affordance (rather than base) stereotypes to more effectively reduce prejudices and discrimination.
ContributorsPick, Cari Marie (Author) / Neuberg, Steven L. (Thesis advisor) / Kenrick, Douglas T. (Committee member) / Martin, Carol L (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Anti-atheist prejudice is cross-culturally prevalent and marked by intuitive distrust. However, recent research suggests that, when social perceivers know additional relevant information about others (i.e., their reproductive strategies), this information overrides religious information and nonreligious targets are trusted as much as religious targets. That is, perceivers seem to use religious information as a cue to a specific set of behavioral traits, but prioritize direct information about these traits when available. Here, I use this framework to explore the possibility that atheists are viewed positively in certain circumstances. First, atheists might be viewed positively for certain purposes because of their perceived reproductive strategies, even while being trusted less. Second, atheists who are family-oriented do not sacrifice trust, but may still be viewed positively for other traits (i.e., open-mindedness, scientific thinking). Third, given the constraints religion often imposes on behavior, atheists might be trusted more in situations where these constraints interfere with religious people’s inclination to cooperate. I tested these hypotheses using fictitious social media profiles to examine social perception. The study had a 3 (Target Religion: Religious, Nonreligious, or Atheist) × 3 (Target Reproductive Strategy: No Information, Committed, Uncommitted) experimental design (N = 550). Contrary to my predictions, participants did not rate atheists and nonreligious targets as “fast” compared to religious targets. Consistent with predictions, however, atheists and nonreligious individuals were rated significantly higher on perceived open-mindedness and scientific thinking. Finally, atheist and nonreligious targets were trusted more in two of the three trust domains: trust with scientific findings that contradict their worldview and trust with a secret about a friend’s abortion. Further analyses compared patterns of responding for religious and nonreligious individuals, finding evidence for ingroup bias in most perceptions, but not all. Results suggest that perceptions of atheists are complex, but that atheists may, at least sometimes, be viewed favorably. Finally, these results point to the importance of reproductive strategy as a dimension of social perception, as this variable had a clear effect, independent of target religion, on the hypothesized perceptions.
ContributorsMoon, Jordan W (Author) / Cohen, Adam B. (Thesis advisor) / Neuberg, Steven L. (Committee member) / Kenrick, Douglas T. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Past research has focused on the important role humor plays in interpersonal relationships; however, researchers have also identified intrapersonal applications of humor, showing that people often use humor to alleviate negative affect, and that humor has generally been found to beneficially influence mental health. The purpose of this study is to examine whether humor-based coping can be utilized as an intrapersonal tool to aid or facilitate creative thinking and problem solving when faced with a distressing situation. The current study posits reduced rumination as the mechanism by which humor facilitates creativity. To measure creativity, a task was devised that had individuals brainstorm under some distress; participants were asked to recall and describe an ongoing, unresolved problem they were facing, followed by a rumination induction, as rumination is characterized by perseverative thoughts that hinder constructive action. After the rumination induction, participants were randomly assigned to a control condition or either of two emotion regulation conditions: positive reappraisal or humor-based reappraisal. Following this, participants were asked to complete an “alternate solutions” task, based on Guilford’s Alternate Uses Task, generating solutions for their own unresolved problem. Results of the study showed that the use of humor was indeed related to a decrease in rumination, but that the humor condition did not outperform either control condition on any measure of creativity (performing worse in some cases). Limits of this study and future directions are discussed.
ContributorsPages, Erika (Author) / Shiota, Michelle N. (Thesis advisor) / Kenrick, Douglas T. (Committee member) / Varnum, Michael E.W. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Although recent research has suggested that motivations such as disease avoidance and self-protection are associated with increased social conservatism, less is known about the impact of other fundamental motivations on political attitudes. This is particularly important given that the currently studied motivations do not consistently push around economic attitudes, which are an important determinant of voting. The current study investigated the impact of a different motivation, status desire, on both economic and social attitudes in a sample of undergraduate students at a large southwestern university. Participants first reported their overall, economic, and social ideology one month before participating in a lab study. Then, in the lab, they were presented either with a vignette designed to elicit status desire, or a closely matched control, before responding to a series of items about economic and social political attitudes. It was predicted that economic conservatives and liberals in the status desire condition would report more economically conservative attitudes relative to their counterparts in the control condition. By contrast, it was predicted that social conservatives in the status desire condition would report more socially conservative attitudes, whereas social liberals in the status desire condition would report more socially liberal attitudes, relative to their counterparts in the control condition. However, the use of hierarchical linear regressions showed no significant effects of motive activation condition, or interactions of motive activation condition with relevant pre-screen political ideology, in predicting either economic or social political attitudes. Implications of these results for future research are discussed.
ContributorsWiezel, Adi (Author) / Shiota, Michelle N. (Thesis advisor) / Kenrick, Douglas T. (Committee member) / Horne, Zachary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
People commonly make decisions and choices that could be delayed until a later time. This investigation examines two factors that may be especially important in these types of decisions: resource stability and comparison target. I propose that these two factors interact to affect whether individuals tend to adopt a delay strategy or whether they engage in more present-oriented strategy. Specifically, this thesis study tested whether picturing one’s ideal led to the adoption of a delay strategy to a greater extent when resources were stable and to a lesser extent when resources were unstable. Participants read a house-hunting scenario in which the market was stable or unstable, and either pictured their ideal house at the beginning of the task or did not. As expected, participants in the stable housing market were more willing to delay choosing a house, though the predicted interaction between resource stability and comparison target did not emerge. Contrary to the predictions, however, participants who pictured their ideal house were more willing to choose a house immediately and were more satisfied with the house they chose. Overall, these findings did not lend support to the main argument of this investigation that picturing one’s ideal would promote a delay strategy under stable resource conditions. The finding that participants preferred immediate choice after picturing their ideal may have interesting implications for persuasion and advertising.
ContributorsAdelman, Robert Mark (Author) / Kwan, Virginia S Y (Thesis advisor) / Kenrick, Douglas T. (Committee member) / Sanabria, Federico (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Previous research used the context-free Big Five model of personality traits to predict social media behaviors. The perspective implicit in this research assumes that expression of the Big Five is free of situational context. This thesis challenges this assumption to address whether people express the same Big Five on social media as offline. In two studies, this thesis addressed three issues: (1) whether there are self-reported differences in the Big Five between social media/online and offline contexts, (2) whether a five-factor structure replicates in the offline and social media context reports, and (3) whether the predictive validity of the Big Five is the same between offline and social media contexts. College students (total N = 2102) reported their offline and social media Big Five. Main findings reveal that, first, all of the Big Five have lower expressions in social media/online than offline, except for those in the lowest quartile of offline trait expressions; possible explanations include regression towards the mean or the environmental impact of social media. Second, a similar factor structure appeared with openness, extraversion, and neuroticism items being the most robust between offline and social media contexts. However, some conscientiousness and agreeableness items did not apply across offline and social media contexts. Third, the Big Five had different predictive patterns of social media behaviors depending on the context. These findings inform that future research may better serve to specify the context of Big Five expression to understand social media behavior.
ContributorsBunker, Cameron James (Author) / Kwan, Virginia S. Y. (Thesis advisor) / Edwards, Michael C. (Committee member) / Kenrick, Douglas T. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Food-sharing is central to the human experience, involving biological and sociocultural functions. In small-scale societies, sharing food reduces variance in daily food-consumption, allowing effective risk-management, and creating networks of interdependence. It was hypothesized that trust and interdependence would be fostered between people who shared food. Recruiting 221 participants (51% Female, Mage = 19.31), sharing food was found to decrease trust and interdependence in a Trust Game with $3.00 and a Dictator Game with chocolates. Participants trusted the least and gave the fewest chocolates when sharing food. Contrary to lay beliefs about sharing food, breaking bread with strangers may hinder rather than foster trust and giving in situations where competition over limited resources is salient, or under one-shot scenarios where people are unlikely to see each other again in the future.
ContributorsGuevara Beltran, Diego Guevara (Author) / Aktipis, Athena C (Thesis advisor) / Kenrick, Douglas T. (Committee member) / Varnum, Michael C (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020